


Waiting for Someone to Come into Focus

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Feels Like Heaven [39]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Holidays, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-18 01:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7293451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He sometimes let himself assume but deep down he couldn’t quite grasp hold of the feelings that this was happening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting for Someone to Come into Focus

** June 21, 2015 **

“Hi, Olivia.”

“Hi. Happy Father’s day.”

“Thanks. How are you?”

“I'm fine. I was calling to ask how your day went. I know you were looking forward to spending it with your kids.”

“It was great.” he smiled as he settled deeper into his couch. Ed had a baseball game on low volume, the Mets were playing tonight. “They took me out to a very nice restaurant for a late lunch; refusing to let me pay for anything. I got some new ties and a new mini tape recorder. My daughter bought me those great bear paw slippers that I probably haven’t worn since she was a little one. Then the four of us squeezed into a photo booth for some pictures.”

“There was a photo booth?”

“Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was a very good day. We ended with dessert and coffee at Café Café where I just let them talk all about themselves. Some time has gone by since I just got to listen to them talk. I wanted to hear about the music they liked and school and what they were thinking about doing when they got older. I just wanted to be dad. It was kinda hard to part ways today.”

“I'm sure.” Liv said. “The presents sound lovely.”

“I don’t like them spending too much money on me but Sean says they’ve been saving up for this…they wanted to do something nice. That got me, you know. There are times I wonder if I've been the kind of dad I should be.”

“Did today give you the answer?”

“I don’t think I'm ever going to stop asking the question.” Ed said. “But maybe that makes me better than I think. I came home and called my dad and we talked for about an hour. He was very happy with the antique gun I sent him, rumored to have been used by one of Grant’s troops in the Civil War. I don’t know if that’s true but it was really old. He collects antique guns.”

“Interesting hobby.”

“Where I grew up there was hunting and fishing for days. That’s all we ever did as kids. And run around getting dirty as hell before dipping into one of the lakes. Sometimes we would spend a few weeks during the summer in the Bronx; my mother has family there. But home was more tranquil, more relaxed.”

“Is your family here how you ended up in Manhattan?” Liv asked.

She didn’t know a lot about Ed Tucker. They had only been friendly, if that was the right word, for the past month and their brunch date. Even though he first bought her a drink nearly 6 months ago, that hadn’t exactly changed the direction of their relationship. It was all so complicated. Two complicated people in a complicated thing. If she wanted to know, Olivia had to ask. So she decided to ask.

“No, I wanted to go to John Jay. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do but I knew I wanted to be in criminal justice. I also knew I didn’t want to be lawyer. My first dream was to be a Secret Service Agent. So I got accepted into John Jay and fell in love with the city. Jumping into NYPD wasn’t a hard choice after spending those years there. Though I did consider the fire department for a while….I had some firefighter friends and they met a lot of women.”

“You wouldn’t be the first guy to get a job for the dates.” Liv laughed.

“There were women everywhere; more than a man needed. It was a wild time.”

“Wanna tell me about it?”

“Not entirely.” Ed laughed. “I think I’ll keep myself out of trouble tonight. How was your day, did you and Noah do something special?”

“We went to the park, had some lunch, and then had a walking tour of the Upper East Side. I got some good pictures of us and of him on my phone. I wanted him to have a good day, even though he's too young to understand all of this.”

“All of what?”

“Father’s Day. It’s been complicated for me on more than one occasion and I don’t want to make it complicated for him. I'm going to fill his life with positive male influences so he never has to feel like he doesn’t know who and what to be. I call it his Uncle squad. I'm still working on membership. But um, I called because…”

“Is something wrong?” Ed asked.

“Why do you have to assume something’s wrong?” Liv countered. “I can call you without something being wrong.”

“If I called you, you would assume something was wrong.”

“Maybe before.”

“OK.”

“OK.”

“So you were saying, I'm sorry for interrupting.” Ed said.

“Well, I got you a little something. I don't know, I just saw it and I thought you might like it. We don’t have to make a big deal out of it but I did.”

“Do you mean a Father’s Day gift?”

“I do.”

“Oh.”

Ed was quiet for a moment. He didn’t quite know what to say. It probably wasn’t a big deal but it was a kind gesture. Most likely it was another tie or a mug or something like that. Nothing to assume that she had any feelings for him other than easing indifference. The two dates they went on might mean she had other feelings for him but Ed didn’t like to assume. He sometimes let himself assume but deep down he couldn’t quite grasp hold of the feelings that this was happening.

“Ed, are you still there?” she asked.

“I'm here, sorry about that. Thank you.”

“You're welcome. It’s nothing big, I just…I saw it and thought it would be nice. Maybe we could meet somewhere this week, have a drink, and I could give it to you.”

“Oh I'd like that. But this week is going to be insane for me. I can't really get into why but there are going to be early morning and late nights.”

“No, I get it.” Liv said. “Well, could you maybe swing by tonight? I won't keep you long I promise. Our schedules can be so insane, I don’t want it to be July 4th when you get your gift.”

“What time is it?” Ed took his phone away from his ear to look.

“Just after eight. I won't keep you long, I promise. Just hand you the gift and push you out.”

“Wow, nice. It’s like a never got divorced.”

“That’s not funny.” Liv said laughing.

“You're laughing though, so I think it was.”

“Can you come?” she asked.

“I can. Is Noah…?”

“He's sound asleep. I tried to keep him up just a bit longer but he was having none of it. I don’t think I've got him to bed so fast in a month. I wore him out on our little adventure today.”

“Well let me put on something presentable and I’ll come right to you.”

“OK. See you soon.”

Olivia hung up the phone and held it to her chest. She'd just invited Ed Tucker to her condo, he'd never been there before. Looking around there was a lot of toys and stuff everywhere. What else was new? Noah was a whirlwind and his mother enjoyed every minute of it. 

But she hopped off the couch and began to quickly make things look a little more presentable. Ed lived in Hell’s Kitchen…it wasn’t going to take him that long to get there. He knew she had a child so the place didn’t have to sparkle. Still, it was going to be his first time there, Liv would put in just a bit of effort.

000

“Hey.”

“Why are you whispering?” Liv asked, waving him in with her hand.

“I don’t want to wake the baby.” Ed said.

“For the most part, Noah sleeps soundly until 2 or 3 and then he’s back up before 7. I even get some nights where he sleeps straight through but that’s only twice a week or so. I might get lucky tonight. You don’t have to whisper. Do you want a beer?”

“Yeah.”

Ed walked into the apartment and headed for the couch. It was a small couch, barely enough to fit two adults. Why in the hell did Liv not have a real couch? Should he ask? She had another chair in the room and the television was on though he figured it was on mute so she could listen out for Noah. It looked like reruns of _The Golden Girls_ , which was always quality television.

“You’ve got a great place.” He said when she came back and handed him the beer. She had one for herself as well and joined him on the couch.

“Thanks. Sometimes I miss my other place. It wasn’t in the world’s greatest neighborhood, but I loved it. It had a fire escape and there's something about a fire escape that is so quintessentially New York.”

“I've got a fire escape. And I tend to agree.”

“So here you go.” She took the bag from the side of the couch and handed it to him. “It was silly to wrap the bigger gifts since you probably would've figured it out anyway.”

“Oh wow,” Ed drank some beer and then put it down on the coffee table. It was Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, which wasn’t what he would usually drink on any given day. He didn’t even think Olivia liked beer but she may have had friends over who did. Ed wouldn’t even get it in his head that she bought it for him. Especially since it wasn’t a kind he would ever think to drink. It wasn’t too bad though. “Fishing rods.”

“The salesgirl at the sports store told me that they have a five out of five rating.”

“These are trophy class…usually can catch about 25 pounds on one of these if you go heavy duty. Nice good grip that doesn’t rust over time too. If you’re good to it, it should make it through at least two fishing seasons.”

“I got you two, I don’t know if you like to fish with a partner or not. Unfortunately I only got one reel…it was the last one in stock of the ones I liked.”

“You liked a specific reel?” Ed looked at her.

“Well, I thought it was nice.” Liv shook her head and laughed. “I don't know a damn thing about reels, Ed. I just know that you told me that fishing was one of your things.”

“It is. My dad is a championship rod and reeler, so are two of my uncles. And most people don’t know but there are a good amount of places to fish in this city. I usually go over to Brooklyn but if I can, I make the drive out to Staten Island. Staten Island, fishing at sunrise is amazing. Oh you got me a Pflueger.”

“I'm sorry?”

“The reel.” Ed held it in his hand. “This is a Pflueger. This brand is one of the best, especially for its price.”

“Fishing equipment can be staggering.”

“It’s a serious sport.”

“This is kind of the first I'm hearing about that.” Liv smiled. “I remember turning off Rod and Reel when it came on PBS after The Joy of Painting.”

“I can take you sometime, if you want to. We can catch and eat or catch and release…either one is alright with me. I just like the thrill of the hunt.”

“Why are reels more expensive than rods?”

“They last longer.” Ed replied. “And they can make the rod more than what it is. I remember once when I was about 12, I had this shitty rod and this super reel I got for my birthday. One oversized catfish snapped the rod right in half. Me and my dad had to hold it together and use the reel to bring him in. 18 pounder, the biggest I'd caught at the time.”

The smile on his face made Liv smile. She wasn’t sure she was going to do anything like this; they were barely just friends. But something in her belly said yes and she found herself searching for fishing rods online after they'd gone out for a couple of drinks and Ed regaled her with stories of the Winona Lake, Indiana fishing scene. That, along with high school wrestling and cow tipping was the entire Winona Lake, Indiana scene.

“Thank you so much.” Ed put the reel back and the bag and drank his beer.

“There's one more thing down in the bottom of the bag. I wrapped that one.”

“OK.”

Ed pulled out the giftwrapped box. He tore the paper off, looked at it, looked back at Olivia, and smirked.

“You like it?” she bit her lip to stop the full smile from taking over her face.

“It’s tea.”

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

“It’s the world sampler with Ginger Twist, White Orchid, and an Organic Detox to help you feel nice and flushed.”

“This is because I told you to man up about the tea isn't it?” he asked smiling.

“I have no idea what you mean. Just thought you might like something a little different.”

“It’s definitely different.” Ed put it back in the bag. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome. Happy Father’s day.”

It surprised Liv when he leaned over and kissed her cheek. He didn’t go for the lips or anything, he was aiming right for her cheek. His hand rested on her knee and she put hers on top of his. Their faces were pretty close for what seemed like forever but Ed cleared his throat and moved away. 

There wasn’t much room on the small couch but he definitely put some space between them. He picked up his beer and started drinking. Occupying his lips and his hand was probably the best thing to do right now. The need to kiss her was so overwhelming that Ed almost couldn’t bear it. He was a man with a lot of self-control.

“I should probably go. I have to get back across the city and I really do have a long week ahead of me.”

“OK, I understand.” Liv stood up from the couch.

“I wish I could stay longer.” Ed stood as well and picked up his bag.

“Well Molly will have Noah on Saturday and I'm going to work a few hours. Maybe we can have a bite to eat after.”

“Yeah.” He nodded as they started walking toward the door. “I'd like that. Have you gotten all of your study materials for the lieutenant’s exam?”

“I did, but I don’t want to talk about it. It’s all a little daunting.”

“You're going to be fine.” Ed put his hand on her shoulder as Liv opened the door for him.

“This is all your fault, Tucker.”

“At this point, I'm not prepared to deny that. So…Saturday.”

“Saturday.” Liv repeated.

“I'm just going to kiss your cheek again before I leave.”

“No.” she shook her head. Smiling at Ed’s slightly confused face, Liv gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

“Hey text me when you get home, alright. It can be dangerous out there.”

“Will do.”

Ed smiled all the way down the steps and out the door. He didn’t even try to stop himself. Liv bought him Father’s day gifts and kissed him. She was actually paying attention when he had gone off on a ramble about his childhood fishing adventures. 

He didn’t think he mentioned fishing much in the city, a lot of people had no idea that you could even do such a thing. But Ed knew some great spots and he looked forward to having a nice Sunday out with his rod, reel, and a little solitude. Today had been a pleasant surprise for him all around. Summer had come to Manhattan and he had a feeling that it was getting warmer in more ways than one.

***


End file.
